Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA will challenge your senses and your palate. As the vibrant aroma rushes out of your glass you will notice the blend of piney and tropical fruit notes. At first sip, this big beer starts with a powerful hop bitterness up front and an aggressive hop flavor and character throughout.

Leviathan Imperial IPA is brewed with tons of pale malt and just enough caramel malt to provide a sweet malt body to balance the hop intensity. We used copious amounts of a variety of hops including Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe, and Amarillo at various points during the boil to create a complex hop flavor and clean lingering bitter finish. We then fermented the beer with Harpoon’s own versatile proprietary yeast. Finally, we dry hopped at a rate of over 1 lb a barrel to produce this beer’s massive aroma.

Reviews by Hops4Pops:

A: Side poured into a 12 oz taster glass. Initial carbonation blast that quickly settled into a 1/2 inch, slightly off-white head. Color is a slightly reddish golden amber. The beer is just a little hazy. Anticipating something very nice.

T: Fantastic! Lots of hops up front. Citrus and tropical fruits in the middle. Sweet malt backbone balances it out with a very incredible bitterness on the back end. Extremely well balanced. Barely even a hint of the 10 percent ABV. In my opinion, perfect for this style.

M: Chewy. The hops hit your mouth, loud, crisp and bright. The bitterness makes you pucker for more. Only a slight warmth on the back of the tongue from the alcohol.

O: Excellent. This is one of the few defining beers of this style which I really love. The hidden ABV is incredibly stealthy. Upon letting the beer warm before I finished the bottle all I can say is WOW! I really do not think that this can be improved. Don't change anything! If you are an IPA fan, you must try this beer. But be careful as you won't notice the alcohol until you feel it. Incredible brewing!!! (1,211 characters)

More User Reviews:

4.25/5 rDev +5.2%

A - Slightly hazy, dark gold body. Medium white head fades quickly leaves heavy lacing. S - Powerful hops, pine, medicinal concentrated citrus. Dank. T - The nose definitely influences the flavor, while breathing in such a powerful aroma it is difficult to pin point all the hop profiles. It all works well together but it is very complex, pine, medicinal, spiciness, citrus, more pine. Long lingering bitterness that warms at the end and sweetens. Reminds you this is 10%. M - Thick, chewey, coats the palate, but it is not cloying. The bitterness also helps the finish dry out. O - An excellent imperial IPA. Certainly not something you could have everyday, but this one is up there with other imperials. I dragged my feet on trying this one out, I'm sorry that I did. Would definitely seek out again. (807 characters)

A - Pours a clear, deep copper color. The head is creamy and thick, and retains fairly well, leaving thin lacing on the glass. There is a small amount of visible carbonation in the glass.

S - The aroma is a bit disconcerting to me. It is quite overt, but syrupy and heavy smelling. Mostly sweet malts. I don't detect any hop character at all.

T - I see other reviews highlighting hop character, but to me, this is a complete malt bomb. It comes equipped with some hop bitterness, but basically all I get out of this one is a syrupy sweetness. Also quite a bit of booziness to this one, which I do not like. I find this to be quite like Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale.

O - Glad I only bought a single, because this one is not for me. I drank this bottle well within the enjoy-by date, but really only tasted the malts. If you're into Undercover Shutdown than by all means give this a try. I recognize that many people like that combination. (1,031 characters)

Great to see this down here in my area.Poured into a nonic a rich deep golden near bronze with a bit of chill haze,a thick,tight,creamy white head atop that never completely settled.Big citric hop in the nose,deep grapefruit rind and lemon pith,as the bottle says juicy hop flavors of grapefruit and resiny pine with some caramel/tofee flavors coming thru in the finish.Its very fresh tasting and very drinkable for its size,a very nice DIPA to sip on today. (458 characters)

Appearance - This is a thin-looking light brown in color with an explosive, retentive head.

Smell - The huge hop profile let's the drinker know that this big beer is not just whistling Dixie. There's a big, sweetish orange aroma as well. The malt base is likewise sweet and full of caramel with maybe just a bit too much grain.

Taste - Sometimes these big beers will show a lot of hops up front but not deliver in the mouth, but not the case here. The hops are huge at the taste. The grain is a bit bigger in the mouth and the rindy orange is big as well. This is a big, big DIPA.

Mouthfeel - This beer is thicker than medium-bodied but not full. The bitterness is extreme and will chase away the casual drinker.

Drinkability - This sipper will please the hophead purists but is not for the faint of heart. (810 characters)

My bottle also lists the ABV at 9.3% not 10%. This beer pours a clear medium coppery color with a nice white foamy head. Decent lacing makes this a real nice looker. The smell is very strong with citrus hops and some bread yeast. The taste is crisp with a bitter first sip followed by citrus hop and bread yeast. The high alcohol is also mildly present making this a bitter warmer. The m/f is medium for a high octane beer with all flavors mixing well. This is a real nice beer,and one that you should give a try. (513 characters)

S: Huge aroma. Mostly really amazing tropical and citrus fruit. As the beer warmed, there was more candy but not a sickly sweetness. There was a bit of a strange aftersmell. One friend said it was like a litter box. I thought it was more like the smell of spit if you lick your hand. Don't get me wrong, the overall smell was impressive but I'd like to try this beer again to make sure that the strange aftersmell wasn't an anomaly.

T: My first thought was that it reminded me of Hop Slam with no balance. This was all hop. There is enough malt to challenge the hop but there is no doubt who is the champ - it's all about hops. On closer inspection, you get more of the combination of tropical fruit and grapefruit. The candy flavor comes in later. The hops are aggressive on the palate.

M: The mouthfee felt on the full side of medium and carbonation was medium and nicely done. Alcohol and hop give you a nice burn on the palate. Generally clean, slightly resiny and refreshing.

D: This is a really big beer. I couldn't put many of these away. The alcohol seemed well disguised on-tap although some of the burn may have been lost among the hop aggressiveness. It's an in your face type IPA. My friends did not like it. I think you have to be a fan of IPA to appreciate the insanity of a brew like this. It's not the bitterest Imperial IPA out there but it is most certainly a very huge beer and one of the more distinctive flavors in the style. (1,602 characters)

A - Exceptionally clear, moderate carbonation, off while head that fades to a covering. Head fades rapidly and not a lot of lacing, wonder if it is because they filter.

S - Lots of hop aroma tending to be more pine with citrus coming second. A touch of sweetness from the malt, but this is very much hop dominated.

T - Hop pow! Tons of hop flavor, again big pine and grapefruit flavors. Simple but nice malt profile to stand up to the hops. Would like a little more complexity, nothing crazy, just a little more floral or spice.

M - Big resinous feel, coats your mouth with all the hop oil. Nice warmth from the alcohol, not too much carbonation, this is how a DIPA should feel.

O - Very good beer, lots of good qualities, one hop away from being excellent. (761 characters)

12oz bottle. Golden color with a smaller head than I would have expected, though still with a lot of lacing.. Big floral aroma, pine and a little lavender. Maybe some citrus. Big, resiny pine taste, smoothed out a bit by the malt. The alcohol is very well hidden. This is an aggressive beer, but I mean that as a compliment. Quite good. (336 characters)

Poured into a pint glass from the bottle - lots of churning and swirling on its way. Nice head probably 2 fingers that lingered nicely, very aromatic. I really liked this beer; very good texture and taste. The way it settled in the glass was breathtaking. It's a peaceful beer. Few bubbles. I normally don't like that "flat" look, but IIPA pulls it off well; this beer isn't idle chatter. Once you taste it, you know instantly that the tranquility of its appearance fits exactly into it's coolheaded character. Agitated it a bit to see what happened. Delightful micro-bubbles settle quickly. Solid beer. (603 characters)

Pours a beautiful crystal clear orange with two fingers of head. Look delicious.

First aroma to hit is pineapple hops , followed by a bit of pin and citrus. Hops are followed by a decent amount of caramel malt. Smells promising.

Hops burst on the tongue before any actual flavor comes through. While similar to smell, the piney hop character seems to dominate over the fruitier hops. Caramel malts come through nicely on the finish. Leaves a nice bitter aftertaste. Taste is a bit of a letdown after the smell, but still pretty good.

Mouthfeel starts prickly. Then a slight oily/resinous feel comes through, followed by a nice drying astringency on the finish.

I'm enjoying this more than I expected to based on other Harpoon beers I've had. Alcohol is somewhat apparent, but it goes down pretty smoothly. (861 characters)

Beer is golden with a hint of amber color. A big head forms. It has a a very sticky lace with a creamy frothy head.

The aroma is spicy piny and pungent hops. The hops are the main aroma but the malt does show in the back. very nice balance

The taste is very nice a pleasant mix of hops and malt to begin. The hops start the show with a pungent piny, earthy flavor. The hop let a slight sweet malt through. A nice bitter finish come in to end the whole thing.

The mouth is smooth and the carbonation is subtle. The only trace of alcohol is in the finish leaving a slight numbing on the gums.

On a side I've had this at the brewery mixed with UFO white and they have termed it a "Storm Trooper" it was very tasty (746 characters)

Pours a bright orange with a great head that retains very well. Great lacing to boot. Smells of citrus, grapefruit, tons and tons of hops. Tastes of citrusy hops, slight pine presence, peaches, and more of a malt backbone than the aroma indicates. The malts show up a bit more as the beer warms up a bit. It's almost like a ST Unearthly "Light"...less syrupy and a lot of the same characteristics. Not AS great as that gem though but immensely good. I am very pleasantly surprised by how good it is and how easy drinking it is for 10% abv. The alcohol is extremely well hidden. (577 characters)